Podcast: The Legal Status of Unaccompanied Minor Immigrants

The influx of unaccompanied minors across the Mexico/U.S. border is fast becoming a humanitarian crisis. On this week’s legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we look at what is driving these minors to make the dangerous journey north and discuss their legal status and rights.

To help us do that, we have two guests:

Alex Nowrasteh is the immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. Previously he was the immigration policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Among many publications, his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, and Boston Globe. He has appeared on Fox News and numerous television and radio stations across the United States. He received his B.A. in economics from George Mason University and masters in economic history from the London School of Economics.

Elizabeth Dallam is the National Legal Services Director at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), which is a program providing pro bono legal services to children who arrive unaccompanied or alone to the United States. Previously, she served as the senior protection officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, DC. During her tenure at that organization, she acted as the agency’s focal point on unaccompanied children and advocated for systemic reforms in law and policy to better protect children. Prior to that, she was the executive director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona, where she started a children’s representation project.